A trip to New York… or the holiday and the hurricane

Back in the summer, my other half decided he wanted to take me to New York as a surprise birthday present.

So on October 28th, we went to New York…

Now if you were following the news at the end of October/start of November, you might have an idea that the surprise he’d planned was outdone by a bigger surprise…

Yes, we arrived in New York, just before hurricane Sandy (also known as Super Storm Sandy or the Frankenstorm) showed up.

We arrived at our hotel – just as a mandatory evacuation was announced. Unsurprisingly, some people were a little stressed by being told they had to find a new place at such short notice. Thankfully having stayed in NY before, we simply phoned a hotel we stayed at before and managed to get their last room. Lucky sods that we are!

The next day was my birthday… in a very shut New York. We were in midtown Manhattan, where there were only tourists and ‘crazies’ on the streets. (Yes, it did feel a bit like a movie!)

And everyone was in search of food… there were no cafes or restaurants open, room service was off the menu and even all the Starbucks were closed!

Finally, after walking through blocks and blocks of empty streets, we found a deli selling crisps, juice and giant pumpkins!

So we celebrated ‘worst case scenario’ birthday New York with a pumpkin instead of a birthday cake, eating Cheetos instead of food and bouncing on the bed… well, because who doesn’t do that in a hotel room? (If you don’t, you should. It’s like your constitutional right… or something like that.)

And then… well, on Tuesday, New York was still shut. On Wednesday, the MoMA was open – and that was it. Which was pretty crazy. You don’t often see ‘I Am Legend’ style New York. By evening, whole blocks were in complete darkness with only the Empire State Building to light your way.

By Thursday, our lovely original hotel reopened (we’d been on standby at our emergency hotel) and we managed to persuade a rather nice taxi driver to take us there. (Not many had gas/petrol or were willing to drive to Brooklyn.)

It was a little more open than Manhattan, so we went in search of actual food… some shopping, and some street art. (Since street art doesn’t close!)

By the time, we’d had our first proper meal (it’s amazing how delicious a little seaweed wrap tastes when you’ve eaten only Cheetos for three days!)… we were beginning to feel more like we were on holiday…

We wandered about, we strolled, we sauntered, we meandered (yes, the subway still wasn’t working properly)…

But it was great… we snapped some street art, found a junk shop, did some thrifting (of course)…

Oh and we shopped. I splashed out on a lavender coffee, a pink bobble hat and a Leah Reena Goren dress. (It has kitties on it and pockets… essential purchase!)

And then… well, then my other half got very, very, very sick. We didn’t realise it then but he’d caught the Norovirus (the winter vomiting bug). And that was that.

(This sad sloth represents how we both felt about that!)

By Sunday, he was well enough to go out and explore New York again. (Matt Dillon is here to represent how happy we felt about that!)

We had 8 hours before we had to be at the airport…

So we went to a flea market, then took our unused Halloween masks to Manhattan…

And it was a gorgeous day. Look at that beautiful blue sky… Hello Chrysler Building.

But there was one more surprise left. I got the Norovirus too. In an airport. In front of a whole queue of people waiting for their plane. Let’s just say it wasn’t my finest moment!

Back in Scotland, we decided that drastic times called for drastic measures – yes, it called for Elf.

“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I just like to smile, smiling’s my favourite.”

And everything was right in the world again.*

*Ok, that’s a bit of a lie. I was still very very very sick and had some really freaky feverish nightmares that may or may not have been inspired by Elf. But heck, it’s certainly going to be a trip we’ll never forget. We’ll be those old people going ‘We were in New York when…”. Hopefully I’ll leave out my spectacular puke performance in the airport though!

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Love this. When we got engaged that Iceland volcano erupted so we got stuck in Barcelona. Took us 10 days, 10 hours in a bus queue and every kind of transport/favour to get us home. Romantic now but not so much then. It’s lovely that you have documented this trip. It is a one of it’s kind adventure. Xx

You POOR, POOR thing!! I love that you are still so up beat no matter that you only had Cheetos for your birthday…and two days after that! Hope you are feeling better xChristine recently posted..Koh Samui Day 6: we got married

It wasn’t my favourite experience I’ll say – though people were very nice about it! Some lovely girl even offered to help me in the airport – while I was being sick – hate to say it but I’d have stayed away if I’d been her!

Thanks Charly! It was definitely a bit of a mixed bag of a trip but when life hands you lemons as they say! (They should have a new saying about hurricanes and sickness bugs but I doubt it would be as catchy!) x

What a very adventuresome time you had (drawing a heavy veil over the norovirus)! The street art looks amazing. New York has long been on my list of Places Wot I Must Visit One Day.Tonia recently posted..#3 Dampened Mornings

Just read your super NY/Sandy post. My husband and I must have been leaving NY the day you arrived. We were due to leave on 29 Oct but having finally taken the weather warnings seriously, we headed to JFK on 28th to get a stand-by flight home. We were really lucky to get the very last flight out before the airport closed but lost a couple of days in the city as a pay out 🙁 What a crazy time but it sounds like you made the most of your stay – that’s the spirit!

I recognised some of your street art pictures from Brooklyn too – we were there on the Sat, 27th, under rather ominous looking skies!

oh my gosh, that’s some seriously unlucky timing! glad you guys managed to make the most of it though, and judging by the photos it looks like you explored some fab places anyway. LOVE the dress, and hope you’re feeling much better now! xSally recently posted..this home

ok, I have to ask – do you jump on every hotel bed, or was it just this one due to lack of things to do? I so want to stay in a hotel so I can jump on the bed now!! That looks so much fun! and yay – now I want to see Elf!! 😀

Wow, I’m so impressed by how cheerful you are about a holiday with so many setbacks! It’s amazing you managed to do anything at all in New York, so that’s some determination to sightsee and have a good time 🙂 Love your street art photos!Charlotte recently posted..Pretty Bookish Films: You’ve Got Mail

great post! what a trip. well done for making the best of it. not sure we would’ve been quite so cheery! elf makes everything better.
LOVE the dress. xfrancesca / mrs eliot books recently posted..Cyber weekend sale!

I’ve already said poor you. And meant it. What a peculiar and memorable trip/birthday. 🙁 I thought my husband was going to propose to me on my first trip to Venice when the city uncharacteristically froze over, everything shut, we hadn’t brought any wool or a proper coat and on arrival became so ill I spent 3 days on the marble floor of the bathroom in our freezing cold b&b. Thankfully he waited a few months for the big ask. Sigh.
Anyway. What I really wanted to say here is that I LOVE your hat and that dress. You look gorgeous. x

What a trip. You’re right, you will always be able to say, “We were the people that were there when …” I agree with you on the Elf front, that film makes everything better!Chiara recently posted..Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Thank you for making me laugh today, I really needed it! Not at you, but with you sort of way. It always amazes me how we plan certain things and boom! not how you expected it to be! The street art you found was awesome! And that dress, super cool!Giova Brusa recently posted..Vintage Brooches